 Police are urging victims of homophobic crimes to come forward |
The gay community across Oxfordshire has suffered high levels of homophobic harassment and violence, university research claims. The study, by Oxford University researcher Somjen Frazer, says many victims failed to report the crimes.
Local police urged victims to tell them of attacks so their specially-trained officers can take action.
They have called the study "one of the most thorough pieces of research into homophobic crime conducted in Britain".
Verbal abuse
Pc Lucinda Bevan, Thames Valley Police's community and race relations officer, said: "All uniformed police officers in Oxford are now trained to deal with homophobic crime.
"We take all hate crime very seriously and we would encourage people to report any incidents, even of verbal abuse, because this can help us to build up a picture of when and where incidents are taking place and will help us to take action."
The survey found that the reporting of homophobic verbal abuse was particularly uncommon.
People said their fear of homophobic crime made them wary of their behaviour in public places, at work, and at school.
Bruce McLaren, community safety manager at Oxfordshire County Council, said: "The county council is committed to supporting any measures to reduce hate crime and support people who are victims, and encourages people to report homophobic incidents."
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